


Homecoming

by KrysKrossZee, WolfSquish



Series: Pet Project [13]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ace character, Angst, Babysitting, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, Minor Character Death, No Romance, No Smut, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Trans Character, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24624592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfSquish/pseuds/WolfSquish
Summary: Alice Longbottom II has been away for a year, living on the run, though the only thing that she was running from was herself. Now with a baby in tow, she's returning home for a friend's funeral. Life as a single mother has been tough, but it would seem that she's about to find help in an unlikely place.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Pet Project [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663804
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been adapted from a RP and is set before The Note but after The Puff Agenda.
> 
> Thank you to R1ver_S0ng for betaing!

Alice had somehow finally managed to get Caden to sleep. The little boy hadn't been settling well these last few days, but then she couldn't really blame him. This flat was a lot quieter than the hostels that they had been staying in and while that was a good thing in the long run, the lack of familiar background noise had made it more difficult for the baby to settle.

It had never been her intention to come back to England; but she had also never planned on having to attend a funeral for such a good friend either. It was something that she knew she couldn't miss, or she would regret it forever. It sort of felt right for her to return now as well, even if she wasn't exactly returning home. She didn't even intend to tell her parents that she was back in the country, though there was a good chance that someone would see her and tell them anyway.

She carefully tiptoed out of the bedroom of her new flat and headed toward the kitchen. She had to leave her door open as she didn't have a baby monitor yet. In fact there were a lot of things that she didn't have, but she was doing her best. Finding this flat was just the first step in getting back on her feet, or at least that was her hope. Of course, she hadn't expected to have a flatmate, but she supposed it made financial sense. It had just been a surprise when the flatmate turned out to be someone that she had gone to school with; something that felt like a lifetime ago now.

She made herself a cup of coffee before settling herself down on the sofa. The funeral wasn't until tomorrow at least, which gave her a few hours to figure out what she should do with Caden. A part of her wanted to take him along, but she knew she couldn't do that. She needed to pretend to be the old Alice, even if only for a little while, so that she could be there for Ji. He would need her now more than ever. 

Leaving Caden behind brought new problems for her to solve though. Obviously she couldn't leave him alone. He was barely three months old. But it wasn't as if she had a lot of choice in babysitters just now. Not to mention the fact that she and her son had never been apart before. She didn't know how he'd cope, much less how she'd cope.

There was only one thing for it. She was going to have to ask Enzo. At least ey wasn't a total stranger to her, they'd known each other back at school, even if they hadn't really gotten on, but she'd attempted to leave school at least on amicable terms with the Claws. The last few months of school had seen the end of their war as it was. Louis had ditched them all - just up and left after what Alice had been told was a disastrous Wotter Christmas holiday. This had left Ji heartbroken, not to mention the fact that The Puff Agenda seemed to stop responding for them. It didn't help at all that Lysander was pining after someone that Alice had warned him would only break his heart.

She had been glad to get away from Hogwarts after they'd graduated, even if it hadn't been her original intention to flee the country. She let out a sigh as she pushed those regrets to the back of her mind. She couldn't dwell on the might have beens, at least not today. Instead she needed to make herself do something, though she had no idea what. She was far too tired for anything that required physical or mental effort just now though, so she ended up just leaning back in her seat, her eyes seeming to close on their own.

She supposed that she must have dozed off because the sound of a door closing - not even all that loudly - made her jump and she spilt some of the coffee over herself. "Shit.." She hissed through her teeth as she leapt to her feet, immediately reaching for her wand to clean up the mess as she fanned her top so the liquid would stop burning her skin.

“Oh,” a voice came from the front door. “Hope I didn’t scare you.” Alice managed not to roll her eyes at this; it wasn't as if she usually spilled coffee on herself just for the fun of it. “You okay?”

Alice wanted to go and hide in her room now more than ever but hiding wouldn’t change anything, just add to her embarrassment. She located her wand as she shook her head and cleaned up the coffee as she replied.

“My fault for dozing off.” She said with a small shrug. Not to mention the fact that she was extremely jumpy lately. She’d probably have done the same if she’d heard a pin drop. She didn't feel ready to confide in her new flatmate yet though - even if she had already trusted Enzo more than she had trusted anyone else in the wizarding world when she had introduced em to her baby.

She let out a small puff of air as she successfully cleared up the last of the coffee and turned to face Enzo. “Did you… have a successful trip?” She asked, slightly hesitant as she realised that it probably wasn’t her place to even ask.

In the meantime, Enzo had dumped eir bag on the armchair across from where she had been dozing off and had now moved into the kitchen area to grab emself a coffee.

“Yeah, I did.” Enzo told her as ey turned to face Alice, inhaling eir coffee. “Hope you got a chance to settle in here in the meantime?”

Alice had spent the last year hopping from one hostel to the next; settling wasn’t something that she even remembered how to do, but she gave a nod anyway. “Yeah. I think so.” She told em with a smile before moving to refill her own coffee cup. She couldn’t risk dozing off again now anyway. She had no way of knowing how long she’d been asleep for and therefore no way of knowing how long it would be until Caden woke up again. “Cades is actually asleep on his own for the first time in I don’t know how long, so that’s got to count for something.” She added as she turned back to face Enzo.

Enzo nodded as ey pulled out eir phone and typed something before ey spoke again. “That’s something then.” Enzo paused for a moment before continuing. “Uh. Don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you should lie down for a nap too. You look really tired.”

Alice hummed lightly at that. “I look like hell. Comes with having a baby, apparently. But sleeping isn’t really an option. I lost track of time so there’s a chance he could be up soon and… Well, yeah. That’s it basically. I’ll sleep when he goes down for another nap.” She checked her watch. “Lysander will probably be checking in soon anyway. He usually calls around now.” She added with a shrug. She had gotten used to the whole not sleeping thing and she had bigger things to worry about today.

Enzo blinked a few times. “I think even a ten minute nap could do you good, but it’s your life.” Ey said with a shrug before letting out a slight hum. “Not a fan of phones?” Enzo asked with a tilt of eir head as ey sat down on the sofa and leaned back.

Alice shrugged slightly. “No, it’s not really about the phones… They’re the only way we’ve stayed in touch since he went off to Russia. I - uh… You’ll probably think I’m crazy or an idiot or something but Lys doesn’t exactly know about Caden.”

She saw Enzo practically do a double take at Alice’s words. “Uh. Why?” Enzo blinked a few times. “I don’t think you're crazy, but I don’t understand that.”

She paused at Enzo's question as she tried to think of how she was actually meant to explain a nervous breakdown without using those exact words. “I… I haven’t really told anyone. Well, except you now. I… kind of freaked… It’s hard to explain the why's. I just didn’t tell him and then the longer I left it, the weirder it felt to actually come out with the words.”

“You probably should tell him though if you’re planning on staying, right?” Enzo seemed to be choosing eir words carefully.

“Yeah. I will tell him. Not today though. Tomorrow’s already going to be hard enough without worrying about him being mad at me.” She paused for a moment. “I… I don’t know how long I’m staying here for.” She added as she moved to sit on the arm of the chair. “At least as long as it takes to get Ji back on his feet, I guess. But even that’s going to be completely weird.”

“Okay.” Enzo said simply before ey stretched a little. “The funeral, right?” Enzo took a sip of coffee. “Well, keep paying rent and you’re welcome here as long as it takes.

“Yeah, the funeral.” She said quietly. “Baileigh Court’s. I dunno if you knew her or remember her. She was a few years older than us anyway.” She tapped her fingers against the side of her coffee cup. She knew now was probably not the best time to ask Enzo if ey could look after Caden for a few hours but she was already talking herself out of it.

Enzo tilted eir head a little, trying to remember the girl in question. “Not sure, to be honest. I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to the people who weren’t my friends.”

“That’s fair.” Alice hummed lightly. The only reason she knew who Baileigh was had been because of Ji and game night - where Baileigh had become a key member as the sorely needed voice of reason.

They were silent for a while as Alice drank her coffee and Enzo stood up, holding eir hand out for her cup. “Refill?”

“The answer to that is always 'yes please'.” She said with a small laugh. She was pretty sure that coffee was the only thing keeping her alive at this point, but she shrugged that off as Enzo disappeared into the kitchen area.

Enzo returned moments later with an “Oh! I was just thinking, if you wanna pool money for groceries, that’s probably a good idea. Totally optional but sounds like we both could use the break.”

Alice nodded at that helpful suggestion. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Hopefully will save us both some money in the long run as well.” It was weird to have someone even remotely thinking about her when she’d spent most of her life trying to cut herself off from everyone, but despite wanting to hide herself and her son, she knew she needed people to help look after him. It took a village to raise a child, right?

Enzo nodded as ey found a piece of paper and copied something off eir phone before handing it over to Alice. “Here, add what you need and we’ll average out the cost?”

Alice nodded slightly as she took the list and tried to suppress the guilt that was rising up, fighting against her own reminder that it had been Enzo's idea in the first place. “Great, thanks.” She knew that she had to ask em about babysitting now or she never would. “I know this is totally random and way too much to ask of you, so feel free to say no, but - uh - would you watch him for a couple of hours tomorrow? I don’t really want to take him with me to the service… If I time things right, he should sleep the entire time. But I can make sure to have my phone on the whole time so I can apparate straight back if he wakes up.” She said all this in a terrible rush, her own nervousness showing for an instant.

Enzo blinked slowly at her question and Alice watched as Enzo rubbed at eir ears. “Uh, yeah, not a problem.” Enzo said before hesitating. “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for him with his grandparents…?” The words trailed off into silence for a moment. “I’m sure we’ll be fine even if he does wake up. You can pay your respects to your friend, don’t worry.” Enzo promised.

Alice had begun to shake her head as Enzo had mentioned her parents. “He doesn't know them, but he’s at least met you.” She said quietly before forcing herself to take a slow breath. “I… Thanks. I wouldn’t ask if I thought I could handle taking him with me but… I don’t think it’s the right time to drop something like this on Ji.” She chewed on her lip.

Enzo hummed but nodded. “I’m not too bad with babies, we’ll be fine.” Enzo assured her, eir voice fairly confident, which made Alice feel a little better about it all.

“Seriously though, if he wakes up, you can call me.” She told Enzo quietly. “We’ve - um - He’s never been without me.” She admitted.

“I’ll call if he wakes up.” Enzo promised. “But you don’t have to abandon ship if it happens, okay?”

“Okay.” Alice said quietly as she gave a slow nod. She supposed that Ji would probably need her more than Caden did tomorrow. He’d lost the girl that he loved, and they still didn’t know where Louis was. Of course, it didn’t help that Lysander was stranded in another country, but that couldn’t be helped. “You could just… Text me and only call if you need me to come home?” She suggested.

She saw Enzo's brief smile and she had to resist rolling her eyes. “That sounds like a plan to me.” Enzo said with what looked like a satisfied nod before stretching a little. “I have to get some studying done now though. Keep on settling in. It won’t bother me if you’re around, but I probably am not gonna have a lot of time to be chatty.” Enzo said apologetically as ey moved to the stack of books on the armchair, beginning to sort through them.

Alice chewed on her lip but nodded. “Thanks again.” She said quietly, trying not to feel guilty when Enzo mentioned needing to study. “Yeah. I’m probably just going to-” but she was cut off by her phone ringing, “-take this, I guess.” She hummed as she glanced at the screen, seeing ‘Princess’ lit up there. “Thanks, Enzo.” She said again before she answered the call and headed towards her room with a “hey, Princess.”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lysander discovers that Alice has severed all ties with her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of this chapter! I know Next Gen isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Alicat is my baby <3
> 
> Note: Lysander is using the wrong pronouns for Enzo because he is unaware that Enzo is non-binary.
> 
> Thanks again to R1ver_S0ng for being my beta!

Lysander swung his bag up onto his shoulders and took a deep breath as he knocked on the Longbottom’s door. He hadn’t been here in a while, and he wasn’t supposed to be here now, but he had decided to surprise Alice and hopefully make her feel less alone facing the prospect of the funeral tomorrow. It was weird, or at least it felt weird, to knock on the door of his best friend’s house when ordinarily he would have just walked in, but she wasn’t expecting him, so he felt compelled to follow social convention.  
The door opened slowly and a perplexed Neville stood in the doorway. “Lysander?” He visibly paused for a moment. “Is Alice okay?”  
Lysander couldn’t help but frown at that comment. “What do you mean? She’s here, isn’t she?”  
Neville stared at Lysander for a while, during which the blond was too scared to breathe, let alone speak, his heart pounding in his chest. His stomach sank like a stone as his eyes met the older man’s. Something was going on, something terrifying.  
“She’s disappeared, Lysander.” Neville said quietly, looking down for a moment. “She hasn’t been home once in the last 12 months. We did try to contact you, to see if you might know where she was, but when we couldn’t get a hold of you, we assumed that she must have been staying with you... Your grandfather told us you were in Russia?”  
Lysander nodded slowly as he tried to process everything that Neville was saying. How could Alice be missing when he’d just spoken to her yesterday? It didn’t make sense.   
“I… She’s okay... Wherever she is.” He said quietly. “I’ve spoken with her recently.”   
He decided to leave out just how recently and the fact that he was expecting to see her at the funeral.  
Neville gave a heavy sigh that made him look much older than his age warranted in that moment. “If you speak to her again, ask her to get in touch, please. Hannah and I are very worried about her.”  
Lysander tried for what he hoped was an assuring smile. “I will.” He promised, though they both knew that no-one had ever been able to make Alice do anything that she didn’t want to do. If she wasn’t speaking to her parents at all, then Lysander could only assume there was a good reason behind it. “I’ll see you.” He said dully, turning to leave.  
He didn’t know where he was going to go now. He hadn’t wanted to go to his grandfather’s house in the first place. It was in the middle of nowhere for a start, and it also wasn’t the sort of life he wanted anymore, but he didn’t really have anywhere else to go. He sighed before deciding to head to the Leaky Cauldron to have a drink and put off the inevitable for as long as possible.

Lysander sat for a while, nursing his drink at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron. He didn't expect to see Alice here, not when her family still technically owned the pub even if they didn't currently run it. But part of him had still hoped that she would make an appearance. When she didn't, it took a long while for him to summon the courage to actually call her. He needed to know what was going on and why she had severed all contact with her family, but part of him was actually terrified of knowing the reason why.  
“Hey Princess.” Alice’s voice finally came through the phone and Lysander couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Part of him hadn't expected her to answer and he'd actually begun to question whether he had even talked to her this past year.  
“Where the bloody hell are you?” He asked, his tone short, despite his relief that she was alive and well. He was stilL worried about her and he couldn't hide that from his voice, no matter how hard he tried.  
“Home.” She said slowly. He didn’t buy it. Of course he didn’t. He’d just been there after all.  
“Your dad seems to think otherwise, Alicat. I’ve just been to your parents’ house. They have not seen or heard from you in a year! A whole year! So where are you? Are you okay?” He was trying not to let his panic show, but was failing terribly at that.  
“I’m fine. I moved out of their house. Home… Home isn’t where they are. Wait - why were you there?!” Alice asked.  
Lysander sighed as he leaned against the bar. The Leaky Cauldron rooms were all booked up, so now his only plan was to have a couple of drinks and then head to his grandfather’s house.   
“I’m back for Baileigh’s funeral. I was hoping to bunk with you for the night, but obviously that’s a no go…”  
“You weren’t coming to that though.” She said slowly, clearly confused, but then he was confused about the whole thing too.  
“No. I wasn’t." Lysander admitted. "But then I heard from JiJi that LouLou wasn’t coming back for it either and I felt bad for him. So I spoke to my director and here I am. In England. Currently at the Leaky Cauldron, actually. So again, where are you?” He was getting impatient now. She was deliberately avoiding telling him anything and it was only increasing his anxiety.  
“I told you…" Alice said stubbornly. "I'm home. I’ll text you the address, okay? But you’ve got to… Not… Not make a big deal out of all of this.” She stuttered nervously in a way that was distinctly un-Alicelike.  
Lysander sighed again; she hadn’t exactly helped ease his concerns, but he supposed at least contact with her was something. Something her parents didn't have...   
“Okay, I’ll see you soon then. I’ll sleep on your sofa or whatever, okay?” He said quietly.  
“Okay…” She agreed quietly before a “Love you, Princess” was murmured over the line and it went dead.  
Lysander rubbed his temples and downed his drink. Something told him that he’d need it. He ordered himself several more, letting himself drink until he felt almost completely numb. He didn't need or want emotions getting in the way, not when he needed to get it together for Ji. Luckily he didn't need to be sober for that...  
He paused swirling his drink around and around the glass, his thought on one thing. His sweet JiJi. The whole reason he was even back here was to be an emotional crutch for the boy and he hadn't even checked in since yesterday morning. He sent Ji a quick text, though after he'd sent it he wasn’t completely sure that his message even made sense.  
It didn’t take him long to realise that he was worrying too much again so he finished his drink and ordered one more for luck. A small voice in the back of his mind did try to tell him that it maybe wasn’t the best idea to be reunited with his best friend while completely hammered, but that voice was soon drowned out by another drink.

Lysander was more than a little drunk by the time he eventually made it to the address that Alice had texted him. He had no idea what to expect, and that scared him enough to think that his fruit-flavoured faux-courage was completely justified. He checked the blurred lines of text on his screen against the address of the house in front of him before he knocked. He gave three sharp raps, and only just managed to stop himself from turning those into a catchy beat. In another life, he could've been a drummer, he thought with a wry grin.  
He was quite glad that he had managed to find that little bit of self restraint when the door swung open and it wasn’t Alice standing on the other side; it was someone he used to know from school instead. It took him a few moments to wade through the muddled mess that was currently his intoxicated brain to find the memory of the name of the person before him. Enzo Pellegrini? That couldn’t be right, could it? Alice hated Ravenclaws…  
Enzo did smile at him, though his words didn’t seem to indicate that he was at all happy to see him.  
“If you’re gonna hurl, please try not to do that on the sofa I only bought last month.”  
“Hurl? Me? I’m not that…” He trailed off as he realised that he probably was that drunk. He’d lost count of how many drinks he’d had at the pub after all. “I’m not gonna hurl.” He promised with a determined nod before asking “Is Alice here?”  
Enzo looked less than impressed, but he did step aside in order to allow Lysander into the flat. “She’s in her room.” He said abruptly before he returned to the small living room.  
Lysander swayed slightly before he made his way inside, eyeing the sofa that he was meant to not throw up on, before he looked between the two doors on the other side of the room.  
“Left or right?” He asked slowly. His thoughts were cut short when he heard a baby’s cry coming from one of them though. “You have a kid?” He asked Enzo, somewhat surprised at that, but he supposed alot could happen in a year and it had been a long time since he’d seen him last.  
The expression on Enzo's face was unreadable for Lysander in his current state. “Nope. Follow the baby.” He paused for a moment. “Or don’t.” He added with a shrug before he walked off.  
Lysander’s frown deepened at Enzo’s words. “Follow the baby?” He repeated, wondering briefly why Alice would have a baby in her room. He couldn’t imagine her babysitting but he supposed if she were strapped for cash and desperate enough then she might do it.  
“I… right.” He nodded slowly as he made his way towards the room.  
But before he could knock on the door, Alice exited the room, her eyes widened when she saw Lysander, but she didn’t pause. A small baby, smaller than Lysander had ever seen before, was in her arms.  
“Hi. Uhh... You can drop your bag in there and - jeez. Go shower or something… You reek of booze.” She didn’t pause for long and actually appeared to be gagging at the smell of alcohol.  
Enzo audibly snorted. “Galleon says he hurls on my sofa."  
“He’ll be fine after a shower, coffee, and some food.” Alice sighed, as Lysander tried not to be too bothered by the fact that she was talking as if he wasn’t there.  
“We’ll see, I guess,” was Enzo’s reply before Lysander found a third door that he really hoped would lead to the bathroom. He didn’t have the ability to figure it out on his own today.  
“Shower. Right. Yeah.” He mumbled to himself as he finally found the bathroom. He was definitely confused right now and his brain swimming in alcohol did not help that. Who did the baby belong to and why on earth did Alice have it?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice attempts to talk to a drunk Lysander and explain her actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am just loving how this story is unfolding - even though it's almost been technically written as a RP between myself and SethWren for a while.
> 
> Thanks to my new beta ladyblackpotterpeveral!

Alice let out a sigh of relief. She was more than a little surprised that she had gotten Lysander to listen to her.  
"Time to get you fed, right Cades?" She hummed to the baby as she tried to get herself to stop thinking about her rising anxiety. She headed into the kitchen area where Enzo followed her.  
"Next time you want to invite a friend over, they better not be drunk before they even get here." Eir annoyance was hard to ignore, and Alice knew that she couldn't blame em.  
Alice let out another sigh, this one conveying her own frustrations, but she did nod. "I didn't expect him to be drunk. I wouldn't have told him to come here if I had known he was." She said quietly. Alcohol was no longer something she trusted, or more to the point she didn't trust herself under the influence of alcohol. "I'm sorry." She added as she checked the temperature of the bottle she had been heating up for her son. It was awkward having to do most things one handed but it was a part of motherhood that she had gotten used to.  
"He better appreciate my coffee and my omelette." Enzo muttered though ey did give Alice a soft sort of smile as she sat down ready to feed Caden his bottle. "You want some too?"  
Alice fixed her eyes on her baby as he drank; he was already starting to fall asleep again but he was holding onto his bottle with all his strength. At the offer of food, she found herself unable to remember when she had last eaten. That was a normal state of affairs for her currently - everything was a sleep-deprived blur - but that didn't mean that it did her any good.  
"Uh. Yeah. Please." She gave a small nod and tried to flash em what she hoped was a grateful smile.  
"How long is he staying for?" Enzo asked after a moment or two more.  
Alice pulled at a loose bit of skin on her lower lip with her teeth. "Just tonight, I think." She paused for a moment. "But I don't know. I can just ask him to stay at his grandfather's if he's planning on being over here for longer." She didn't actually know what Lysander's plans were, all she knew was that he'd managed to get time out of his contract to come over for Baileigh's funeral.  
"I think that would be best." Ey agreed as Alice set Caden's bottle down on the table. "Go ahead and put Caden to bed. I'll make Scamander sit down and eat if he comes out of there in the meantime. Oh, and you know you're paying the water bill this month, right?"  
"I…" She started but made herself stop. She knew that it was an inconvenience but apologising over and over would probably just make her even more annoying. "The sad thing is this is still a quick shower for him…" She said as she stood up carefully, deciding to take Caden's bottle with her in case he woke up as she was putting him down. "I… Thanks Enzo." She said before she headed through to her room.  
She heard Enzo mutter something along the lines of "definitely not letting him shower here again then" behind her which made her chuckle.  
She closed her bedroom door behind her with a soft sigh before she lay on her bed, Caden still in her arms. She needed to invest in a cot of some sort if she was going to continue to encourage him to sleep in places that weren't on top of her. It hadn't made sense to her previously but she was all too aware that their current setup was not the safest. It was the only way that she could do it just now though. She gently prised his fingers off of her shirt as she managed to slowly lie him down between the pillows that she would stop him from rolling off the bed while she dealt with the mess that was Lysander.  
She knew that the state he had arrived in was because of her, because she had stressed him out more than a little but, at the same time that didn't excuse the fact that he was totally and utterly pissed.  
She let out a heavy sigh as she got up to look for Caden's lovey, seeing it by the door where she realised she must have dropped it. When she went to retrieve it, the baby however woke up. He wasn't really a crier - or at least she got back to him before he had the chance to cry. She handed him his lovey as she gently shushed him and offered him his bottle again.  
This seemed to be more than enough for the boy as he was soon fast asleep again. It was Alice who flinched at the knock at the door, which Caden didn't even seem to hear.  
"There's food and your friend." Enzo's voice came from the other side of the closed door and Alice realised that she'd been in there for longer than kind to her flatmate.  
"Sorry, he woke up." She told em with a smile as she left her room, the door remaining ajar this time so she would be able to hear Caden. A baby monitor was also on her list.  
Her eyes met Lysander's across the room. He looked a little more sober at least, but even more confused, if that was possible. She couldn't help but stare at him for what was probably an uncomfortably long time before she finally managed to break the eye contact.  
"Let's eat." She said quietly.  
They were all silent as they sat down to eat, they sounds of cutlery scraping on plates being the only thing to pass between them. Alice was all too aware that Lysander was watching her but she tried to just focus on getting food in her and hoping that would help to fight the rising sense of nausea and panic.  
"What's going on, Alicat?" Lysander's question floated over the table, hanging in the air. "Where have you been? Your dad said you just... disappeared…?"  
"I ran away." Alice admitted as she set her cutlery down on her plate. "I've been… Lots of places. France, Germany, Romania, Poland… I needed to get away."  
"You could have told me you were travelling." He pointed out before he took a mouthful of omelette, chewing it slowly before he spoke again. "Who's the baby?"  
Alice flinched as she heard Enzo snort and she felt her face flush. She pulled in a rather shaky breath.  
"Caden. He's my son." She couldn't make herself look at her best friend just then. She knew how awful it was to hide an entire person from someone.  
"What?" Lysander yelped. "How?"  
Alice paused for a moment, debating between the whole truth in one sitting or just the basics that evening. "That doesn't matter." She said in the end. She wouldn't let the last time the three Puffs had been together be marred, not on the eve of their reunion. Not to mention, he never told her where he'd disappeared off to that night either. "He's mine and he's three months old, and only you two know about him. I'd prefer it if it stayed that way for now." She finally looked up, only to see that there was no anger like she'd expected, but just confusion.  
"Three months… So you've been… Shit Alice."  
"I meant to tell you, but I didn't even know when I first left." Alice admitted. "And then you were enjoying Russia so much that I didn't want to worry you. The longer I left it, the harder it got to tell you. And then he was born and I freaked out…" She swallowed thickly. "It's taken me this long to figure out how to be his mum and I…" She trailed off. "I'm sorry, okay? I should have said something but I-"  
Lysander raised his hand to cut her off. "But you didn't. I might not like it, but that was your decision. I... I'm not nearly sober enough to deal with this. We'll talk about it another time, okay? Let's just...get through the funeral."  
Enzo had snorted again when Lysander had mentioned that he wasn't sober but somehow ey had regrouped emself to speak now after ey had finished eir coffee. "Sounds like it's finally bedtime then."  
Alice nodded slightly. She hadn't exactly slept properly for… Well, she couldn't remember how long. "I - yeah. Bed sounds good. I - uh - I've got a spare blanket you can have." She said to Lysander. Ordinarily, she would have just have had him sleep in her bed, but that didn't feel right when she hadn't properly introduced him to Caden, and it was also more than likely that the baby would wake up several times in the night. "Thanks for the coffee and the food." She said to Enzo as she got to her feet and headed back inside her room.  
She heard Lysander give Enzo a "thanks" as well which was at least something. She was pretty sure her flatmate was going to kick her out in the morning, or at least she hoped that ey would wait until morning.  
She let herself take a few moments and a few deep breaths before she headed back outside into the living room again. Lysander was still at the kitchen table while Enzo was rinsing off the dishes in the sink. She gave Enzo another grateful smile before she took hold of Lysander's elbow and steered him towards the sofa.  
"Get some rest." She said softly as she all but tucked him in and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.  
Lysander was asleep within moments, something that Alice definitely envied him for. She shook her head slightly as she went to grab herself a glass of water before muttering a "goodnight" to Enzo who honestly looked as tired as she felt. She headed through to her room and carefully got into bed after changing. Caden was still sound asleep but she doubted that would last that much longer. He'd been asleep for most of the day after all. Either way, she decided to try her luck and let her eyes close; she needed the rest in whatever form she could get it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice makes breakfast for everyone and then has an honest conversation with Lysander.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love writing for Alice so even though next gen fics aren't that popular, I will still continue this fic. I write for me.
> 
> Thanks for reading and thank you to ladyblackpotterpeveral for betaing!

Alice might have had a lot of things that she needed for Caden, but she did have a little seat for him that bounced which was where she had sat the little boy for the time being so that he could watch her as she moved around the kitchen. They’d had a rough night. As she had predicted Caden woke several times and had proceeded to scream the place down. She ended up giving up on sleep around three in the morning when she took him for a walk. It probably wasn’t the best idea she’d had considering the fact that she didn’t know the area as of yet, but it had done the trick and he fell asleep for another hour or so which maybe didn’t seem long but Alice wasn’t going to complain when it meant that she got some sleep herself.

Just after five, Caden was awake and wailing again so eventually she had to admit defeat and get up. She wasn’t surprised to find that Enzo was also awake and had set emself up in the kitchen with a pile of notes and what would probably have been a great IV worth of caffeine. She gave em a small smile as she made Caden’s bottle and tried to remember what she had bought in the middle of the night for breakfast that morning.

After a while she’d found that she’d actually forgotten that Enzo was even there in the first place and that was how she found herself moving around the kitchen, singing to herself while Caden watched and gummed a leg of his giraffe lovey. She often found herself singing around Caden. It made him happy so she definitely wanted to keep it up. Today was a sad day, sure, but that didn’t mean that her baby had to be sad.

It wasn’t until Caden made a gurgling noise that she was brought back to reality.

“Bacon and eggs?” She offered Enzo with a small smile as she remembered ey was there.

“Bacon and eggs would be great. Surprise my stomach with actual food.” Enzo nodded grateful as ey started to clear the table and she went to grab some plates from the cupboard.

“I’m not the best cook, kinda self taught, so what I can cook is limited, but I’ll make sure you eat ‘proper food’ more often then.” She promised with a determined nod. At least cooking for someone else would remind her to eat.

“I’m going to hold you to that, I hope you know that.” Enzo told her as ey pulled a face at Caden and got a small blurble from the baby in reply. “It smells great anyway.” Ey added as ey took a plate from her and tucked in.

Alice couldn’t help but be a little prideful of that. It wasn’t often that she received praise of any sort. She gave em a “thanks” before she sat down with her own breakfast. She was pretty much hungry all the time, but she knew that came from not looking after herself properly for a while now.

“When’s your lecture?” She found herself asking after a few moments in which the only sound was Lysander’s fake snores.

“I have to leave in about fifteen minutes and then it’s two hours of lecture. I normally got to a pub for lunch, but I’ll come here instead so you can go to the funeral.” Ey told her.

Alice nodded slightly at eir reply. “Thanks Enzo.” She said quietly, making a mental note to at least make em a sandwich, but all that would of course depend on Caden and Lysander, which was the reason that she wasn’t going to promise, especially not when she’d already promised to cook for em more regularly. “It’s muggle law you’re studying, right?” She asked hoping that she’d remembered correctly but also not going to even pretend she understood the subject.

“Uh… Sort of? It’s part of Granger’s whole schtick to bridge the gap better, so I’m studying both sides. But yeah, this is the muggle side and it’s easiest just to do that at a muggle school.” Ey explained.

She nodded slightly, having heard briefly of the initiative, but she hadn’t really paid attention much when she’d been in school and she’d spend the last year in the muggle world. “So you’ve still got wizarding law to go?” She asked trying to understand, but of course it was far from her area of expertise - though she had no idea what area that even was.

“Yeah. Apparently it’s easier that way around. I already know a lot of wizarding law though; my aunt and uncle have made sure of that.”

She nodded again as ey spoke, though honestly she couldn’t relate. Any time her parents had taken any interest in anything she had, she’d promptly run in the opposite direction. “How long have you known this was what you wanted to do?” She asked em, her head tilted to the side slightly. Even though they’d known each other for nearly a decade, she realised that she didn’t really know anything about Enzo.

“Un. Can’t remember a time I didn’t want to be a lawyer and help kids really. I guess Marino going deaf and the whole mess surrounding that might have started it? But I don’t have a lot of memories from back then, I was so young.” Ey shrugged before ey got up and put eir plate and mug in the sink.

“Kinda cool to know what you want to be.” She said before she finished off her bacon. “Think I’ve been the only person I know who never had a clue.” She said with a small laugh as she glanced over at Caden who was rubbing his giraffe over his face. “Think I’m becoming a pro at the whole winging it thing though.”

Enzo shrugged a little. “I think you do have a clue. You just don’t realise that you’re looking in the wrong places. You’re looking for a career and all that; what you’re getting is a family.” Ey pointed out. “But that’s all the psychoanalysing that I have for you today. Time to go to my lecture and hope my brain doesn’t leak out my ears.”

Alice couldn’t help but wrinkle up her nose as ey spoke of family; the very thing that she’d spent so long fighting and pulling away from. She couldn’t deny eir words though. Everyone else had been off building their career prospects, and she’d gotten Caden. It was pretty weird for her to think of him as her family, but that was exactly what he was.

“Good luck with the not leaking thing and we’ll see you later.” She said to em with a smile as she took her own plate to the sink before picking up the now very sleepy Caden. “Think it might be nap time for this one and then I’ll get the other baby up.”

“Sweet dreams, little man.” Enzo whispered as ey dropped a kiss to Caden’s nose before he gave Alice a smile and a wave before ey left the flat. “See ya in a bit!”

It made Alice feel a million times better to see that Enzo already had a soft spot for her little boy. She reckoned that was the only thing saving her from being thrown out between the whole thing of having Caden scream most of the night and Lysander turning up rather quite drunk.

She headed through to her room where she lay on the bed with Caden cuddled up to her chest and singing softly to him as she soothed him. She hoped that it wouldn’t take long to get him to fall asleep but she also knew that she wouldn’t be too bothered if it meant that she got a quick catnap.

Eventually Caden dropped off though and she managed to move him into the makeshift pillow cot on her bed. She’d need to get him a real one now that they were somewhere a little more settled, but that wasn’t exactly something that she couldn’t just pop down to the corner shop and buy in the middle of the night like she had done with breakfast - not to mention that those sort of things cost money.

“Princess?” She asked quietly as she nudged the duvet covered mound that still hadn’t budged from the sofa. “Can you come out?”

There was an unintelligible mumble from under the duvet and Alice could only roll her eyes. She got that he was mad at her for keeping the truth from him for so long but she couldn’t exactly talk to him about it if he continued to hide from her. She pulled back the duvet and raised an eyebrow at the man.

“Where’s the sprog?” He mumbed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position and all but glared at Alice who sat down on the arm of the sofa by his feet with a sigh.

“I’ve just put him down for a nap.” She told him as she fixed her eyes on the hands that she was trying not to twist in her lap. It was just the two of them in the flat so there really wasn’t anything that they could do except air everything out.

“Are you hungry?” She asked after a moment of silence. She wasn’t sure how to start talking about Caden.

“Not really.” Lysander said quietly as Alice pulled a breath through her teeth. There really was no getting out of it. “Coffee though?” He asked hopefully.

Alice nodded before heading off to go get them both a cup. She returned to him after a few moments and decided just to sit next to him on the sofa. He’d stayed so he must have wanted to work it all out, right? She handed him his coffee as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I didn’t want you to have to worry.” She said quietly. “And I’m sorry I kept him from you. I went about everything wrong. I know that.” She knew it just sounded as if she was making excuses but she didn’t know how else to explain herself to him.

“Were you ever planning on telling me about him?” Lysander asked quietly. He hadn’t pulled away from her which she was taking as a good sign.

“I would have… I… I was planning on telling Ji first… After the funeral, and seeing if he’d help me tell you. And… It was a stupid plan.” Alice let out another small sigh. “When he wakes up again, you’ll have to meet him.”

Lysander hesitated for a moment before he gave a small nod. Alice knew that this was a completely new experience for them, but she was glad that he was at least open to trying. His nod had meant that a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

“Just don’t make me hold the kid, okay?” He hummed as he turned his head to press a kiss to her cheek. He paused for a moment before he reached to take her hand into his own, lacing their fingers together. “Where’d he come from, Ali? Who’s his dad, I mean?”

Alice swallowed thickly at that question as the memories of that night came flooding back to her all at once. “A stranger.” She said quietly. She couldn’t go into details. She didn’t know how she could without that whole thing coming crashing down on her all over again. “It’s not someone you know, and he’s not in the picture either. He doesn’t and won’t know. Can we just leave it at that?” She knew that it was a lot to ask but she needed her stupid mistake, her stupid attempt to fix herself, to stay in the past where it belonged.

“Yeah, okay.” Lysander said quietly as he gave her hand a small squeeze. “You need to tell your parents you’re okay, Alicat. They’re terrified you’re dead in a ditch somewhere.” He whispered.

Alice shook her head quickly. “I can’t - I can’t talk to them. I can’t - They can’t know about Caden.”

Lysander let out a sigh. “I don’t mean you need to explain everything. Just let them know that you’re not dead, especially considering what’s happened with Bails. Okay?”

Alice was silent for a moment as she thought it over before she gave a small noncommittal nod. “Okay.” She had no idea how she was supposed to contact them when she didn’t know how to say a single word to them. She didn’t know how she was meant to explain where she had been or what she had done.

Lysander kissed her cheek again. “You said something about food?” He asked as he stood up. “I’ll go feed myself, you go get some rest, okay?” He walked off without saying another word, leaving Alice alone on the sofa.

She sat there for a few minutes more as she attempted to collect her thoughts before she headed off to the bedroom, deciding that she should probably try to nap while Caden was. She knew she still needed to shower and to find herself something to wear in her limited wardrobe. She wasn’t looking forward to the funeral, but then it would have been morbid if she had been looking forward to it. She and Baileigh may only have been surface friends, but that didn’t mean that it hurt any less that she was gone.

With a sigh, she curled up on the bed, wrapping herself around Caden’s makeshift cot and allowed her eyes to close. As much as she missed her Hogwarts days and the person that she used to be, she wouldn’t trade him for the world.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice leaves Caden with Enzo so that she and Lysander can attend Baileigh's funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a sad chapter to write. James' side of the story is coming but I'll need to be in a good place for that, because he's really not...
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy and thanks as always to my betas SethWren and ladyblackpotterpeveral

Handing Caden over to Enzo had been every bit as difficult as Alice had anticipated. Her chest physically ached as she and Lysander left the flat hand in hand, but she knew that taking him with her was not an option today. It helped that Lysander was there with her as they made their way out of the flat and found somewhere for Lysander to safely apparate them to somewhere close to the funeral. She'd texted Ji at some point during the haze that the morning had become to arrange to meet him outside. She didn't particularly want him to walk in alone; somehow she didn't think that the fact that his cousin would also be there would be all that comforting.

From what Ji had told her, James had been there when Baileigh had been killed. She could only imagine what he was going through. She couldn't even begin to think what she'd do if she lost Lysander or Ji, let alone in such a horrific way. It was bad enough that none of them had heard from Louis in a year and a half now. They could only hope that he was alive.

She tried to ignore the knot that had formed in her stomach at the realisation that she was putting her family through the very same thing. She hadn't really considered what she was putting her parents through until Lysander had told her how worried her parents were. She supposed that she hadn't really expected them to care that she was gone at all if she was completely honest. She'd been in a pretty dark place when she had left, but she hadn't realised just how low she had been until last night.

She couldn't fixate on that just now though. She needed to make herself think about Baileigh and Ji, and maybe even consider checking in with James. There was a chance that he wouldn't even know that she had been gone because he had been off traveling himself so it was less likely to be awkward for either of them. She'd considered James a good friend when they had been at school anyway. They'd gotten drunk and into trouble together so often that her father had pretty much given up with the pair of them by the end of it.

Ji looked rough. It was Alice's first thought when they saw him leaning against a brick wall. A cigarette was hanging from his lips, but he hadn't even lit it. Before she could even say anything to greet him, Lysander had wrapped him up in a tight hug which Ji immediately gave into.

Alice hung back, just letting the two of them reunite for a moment though she really wanted to wrap her arms around Ji as tightly as possible, to do what she could to make all of his pain disappear. The old Alice would have taken him out and gotten him hammered. She wasn't sure what the new Alice was going to do instead but she'd figure that out in time.

When Lysander pulled back, she pulled Ji into a quick hug and kissed his cheek gently before taking his hand into hers. She opened her mouth to ask if he was ready but that seemed like such a stupid question. How was anyone meant to be ready to walk into the funeral of someone that they loved? So instead she closed her mouth again, swallowed thickly and gave his hand a squeeze.

"We can leave at any time." Lysander said softly to which Alice nodded in agreement. While they were there to pay their respects to Baileigh, their main focus was to be there for their best friend.

"Thanks." Ji managed to say, though his voice was so strained it sounded as though he might burst into tears again at any given moment.

No-one said anything more though and slowly they walked down the street and into the funeral parlour. Alice winced at the picture of Baileigh that was sitting in the entrance hall, at how happy and alive she looked. She realised that that was how Baileigh's family wanted everyone to remember her, but in Alice's opinion it just made it hit home that Baileigh was anything other than alive.

They sat near the back where Alice decided that she felt most secure. She could see the room and she was close enough to an exit that if they needed to get Ji out of there in a hurry then there would be virtually nothing stopping them.

That was the plan anyway until she saw him, her father, sat at the other side of the hall. Her heart skipped several beats as she sat there staring at him. He hadn't noticed her yet, or if he had then he was doing a good job of pretending he hadn't.

"Is that...is that Auggie?" She asked Ji slowly as she cast another glance around the room when she could finally look away from her father. She didn't want to fixate on the fact that her dad had come to the same funeral as her - Baileigh was one of his students after all, but that didn't mean that seeing two members of her family hadn't completely thrown her.

Ji followed Alice's gaze and gave a nod. "Uh, yeah. Your sister came back like a month after you left." He told her as he reached for her hand and gave it a small squeeze.

Alice couldn't help but feel that there was something that he wasn't saying, but this really wasn't the time or the place to question him about it so instead she just gave his hand a squeeze in return. She tried to look away from her sister who she realised was now sat with James which would make her reunion with him just that more awkward.

She was pretty sure that she was going to have to give that one a miss. She wanted to tell James how sorry she was to have heard about Baileigh but she didn't think that she was ready to face Auggie. Her sister had left home after she'd finished school and just as Alice had, she'd cut all ties with her family. Alice hadn't understood why, especially not when Auggie had been their parents pride and joy when they were growing up. It kind of stung to know that her sister had returned after she'd left, but she tried to shake that off.

The service itself was short and sweet. Baileigh's parents and cousin spoke about her, and James was even given the opportunity to, but it didn't look as though he could manage to string two sentences together, let alone give any sort of speech. Alice found herself watching him for a while rather than actually listening to what was being said. She didn't think she could listen to someone telling her about a friend of hers anyway. She had known Baileigh and that was enough for her.

She thought about ducking out of the wake itself. There were no updates from Enzo though, which made her both feel better and made her even more anxious at the same time. She knew that she could phone em or text em, but she wanted to trust em. Ey deserved her trust considering that ey had taken on the challenge of babysitting Caden in the first place. The lack of communication did however take away her excuse to go home so the three of them found themselves in an old English pub surrounded by other funeral goers.

Alice was more than a little pleased to see that her father had decided not to go to the wake itself. That was one less problem that she knew that she would have to deal with at a later date, but fortunately that day was not today. She wasn’t so lucky on the Auggie front. Her sister seemed to be clinging to James - though it was more likely that James was the one that was in fact clinging to Auggie. She had to let herself be at least a little pleased that her friend had someone to support him through this awful day, but she really wanted Auggie to go home.

As she picked at the crust of a pork pie that she had picked up off the buffet table at some point, she couldn’t help but watch her sister. She wanted, needed, to look away but she didn’t seem to have control of her body at all. Part of her actually wanted to go and speak to Auggie, but she knew that there was no way that she would be able to handle that. So much had happened since she had last seen her sister - and that was without including Caden. She wasn’t the same person that she had been, and she was sure that Auggie wasn’t either.

She swallowed thickly as her thoughts went straight to Frank, her baby brother who she surprisingly missed. Alice and Frank had never been close. They fought like cats and dogs, and that was before Auggie left. When it was just the two of them left, they actually came to blows. That was what happened when two people with short tempers didn’t have a buffer between them any more.

“You alright?” Lysander asked quietly. Ji had gone to the bathroom, insisted that he be allowed to go alone even though Lysander had offered to go with him.

Alice managed a small nod. “Yeah, I… Auggie. Took me by surprise.” She answered him with a bump of his shoulder with hers. She knew that she had brought this on herself. If she had at least kept in touch with her family, she would have known of the whereabouts of her sister.

Lysander kissed her cheek. “I’m here with you, okay? You’ll be okay.” He promised her.

She knew that he was gearing her up so that they could go and give James some comfort. James had been there for them for most of their school lives so it would be rude to avoid him for the rest of the day, even if that was the easiest option for them. They’d have to speak to Baileigh’s family as well, though Alice had no idea what they were meant to say to them. They’d never met her parents before, though they had met her cousin Sophia at parties during the summer. Alice got the impression that Sophia didn’t like any of Baileigh’s school friends, but surely she would be putting that behind her for today?

When Ji came back, Lysander took both of their hands and after a quick “I’m sorry for your loss” to her family, they were soon crossing the pub and heading straight for James. As they got closer to him, the bags under his eyes were more prevalent. His skin was practically grey and Alice reckoned he hadn't slept or eaten in days. This was enough to get Alice to stop obsessing over the fact that she was about to come face to face with her sister at least, but now she was just worried about the state of the friend that she had become so very fond of. She knew he'd been through a lot but she didn't expect him to look so ill.

"Alicat." The nickname cut through the air between them, James' voice sounding strangled as he uttered it.

Alice didn't need to think about her next actions, she just simply wrapped her arms around James and held him tightly to her for what could have been hours or could have been mere seconds. It didn't matter to him though, he seemed to need her to comfort him. She let him take the comfort for as long as he needed it and when she felt him pull back, she let go.

Lysander didn't say anything, just gave James' arm a squeeze, while Ji couldn't seem to look at James but that was completely understandable as far as Alice was concerned. They had both lost someone who meant so much to them that it made sense that they wouldn't want much to do with each other, at least not yet.

Alice then allowed herself to look at Auggie, the sister she hadn't seen in four years. It was funny, in a way, for her to see how different Auggie was now, and yet she still looked exactly the same. The same sister she had once adored, who was now one of the family members that gave her such anxiety.

Auggie couldn't meet her eye either, which Alice had to admit stung a little, but she made herself shrug that off for now. There wasn't time to stress about that though, so she filed it away to deal with later.

"It's good to see you, James." She said quietly, realising that she would have to be the one to fill the silence that was growing between them. She didn't want to have to be that person but she didn't really have a choice.

"Yeah." James managed to say as she met his gaze again. "It's been a while." That was a bit of an understatement, it had been three years, but Alice decided not to point that out. It was bad enough that she had dropped off the face of the planet for the last year.

Alice chewed on her lip for a moment. She wanted to ask what he'd been up to since they'd last seen each other but she knew that that was a) insensitive considering the circumstances that he had lost Baileigh in, and b) she was terrified that he would ask her the same question. She couldn't tell him that, especially not with Auggie right there.

"Anyone want a drink?" Lysander offered as he nodded towards the bar. She didn't think that it was at all a good idea for him to have a drink, nor was she going to have one, but she was almost glad when James and Ji nodded and Auggie went off to help the blond carry the drinks.

This of course left Alice alone with the two mourning men, two of her boys. She wanted to wrap her arms around them and tell them everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't make that promise, especially not when she felt everything other than okay.

Instead Alice found herself saying "I miss her". It wasn't at all what she wanted to say and it wasn't at all helpful either but it had just slipped out. "I...I'm so sorry for what happened."

There were tears running down Ji's cheeks now. He'd lost the two people that he loved so she couldn't blame him for crying, especially not when she was just managing to hold it together.

James shook his head after a few moments of the most excruciating silence that Alice had ever endured. "I can't listen to everyone saying how sorry they are. I just can't. She's gone and that's awful but unless you're the assholes that attacked us then I can't listen to you say you're sorry."

Alice opened her mouth to apologise for that before she snapped it shut again. Her eyes fixed on her shoes as she drew in a deep breath. Awkward did not even begin to describe how she felt just then.

When she looked back up, Lysander and Auggie had returned. She caught Auggie's eye accidentally and suddenly she knew why her sister had been avoiding eye contact in the first place. There was a plummeting feeling in her stomach that quickly became the only thing that Alice could think about, her attention focused solely on the feeling of the world ending. She wanted out of there, but she couldn't make her feet move.

It wasn't until Lysander steered her away, Ji having had more than one drink by this point, that she was even aware that any time had passed. They took Ji home then, well, back to his parents' house, and after making him shower they tucked him into bed. They stayed with him until he went to sleep before they returned to Enzo's flat themselves.


End file.
